Middleware TechnologyServlet

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Agenda

• Servlet– basic concepts– http servlet– servlet context– communication– between servlets

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1 Java Servlets

• A servlet is a Java Technology component that executes within the servlet container.

• Typically, servlets perform the following functions:– process the HTTP request– generate the HTTP response dynamically

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Servlet Container

• A servlet container– is a special JVM (Java Virtual Machine) that is respons

ible for maintaining the life cycle of servlets– must support HTTP as a protocol to exchange requests

and responses– issues threads for each request

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Servlet Interface

• All servlets either:– implement javax.servlet.Servlet interface, or– extend a class that implements javax.servlet.Servlet

• In the Java Servlet API, classes GenericServlet and HttpServlet implement the Servlet interface.

• HttpServlet is usually extended for Servlet implementation.

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Servlet Architecture

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Servlet Life Cycle

• Servlets follow a three-phase life cycle:– 1) initialization– 2) service– 3) destruction

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Life Cycle: Initialization 1

• A servlet container:– loads a servlet class during startup, or– when the servlet is needed for a request

• After the Servlet class is loaded, the container will instantiate it.

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Life Cycle: Initialization 2

• Initialization is performed by container before any request can be received.

• Persistent data configuration, heavy resource setup (such as JDBC connection) and any one-time activities should be performed in this state.

• The init() method will be called in this stage with a ServletConfig object as an argument.

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Life Cycle: ServletConfig Object

• The ServletConfig object allows the servlet to access name-value initialization parameters from the deployment descriptor file using a method such as getInitParameter(String name).

• The object also gives access to the ServletContext object which contains information about the runtime environment.

• ServletContext object is obtained by calling to the getServletContext() method.

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Life Cycle: Service 1

• The service method is defined for handling client request.

• The Container of a servlet will call this method every time a request for that specific servlet is received.

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Life Cycle: Service 2

• The Container generally handles concurrent requests with multithreads.

• All interactions with response and requests will occur within this phase until the servlet is destroyed.

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Life Cycle: Service Method

• The service() method is invoked to every request and is responsible for generating the response to that request.

• The service() method takes two parameters:

– javax.servlet.ServletRequest

– javax.servlet.ServletResponse

public void service ( ServletRequest request, ServletResponse response ) throws IOException {. . .}

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Life Cycle: Destruction

• When the servlet container determines that the servlet should be removed, it calls the destroy method of the servlet.

• The servlet container waits until all threads running in the service method have been completed or time out before calling the destroy method.

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HTTPServlet

• A general servlet knows nothing about the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which is the major protocol used for Internet.

• A special kind of servlet, HTTPServlet, is needed to handle requests from HTTP clients such as web browsers.

• HTTPServlet is included in the package javax.servlet.http as a subclass of GenericServlet.

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Hypertext Transfer Protocol

• Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is the network protocol that underpins the World Wide Web.

• For example:– a) when a user enters a URL in a Web browser, the browser

issues an HTTP GET request to the Web server

– b) the HTTP GET method is used by the server to retrieve a document

– c) the Web server then responds with the requested HTML document

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HTTP Methods

Useful for Web applications:

• GET - request information from a server

• POST - sends an unlimited amount of information over a socket connection as part of the HTTP request

Not useful for Web applications:

• PUT - place documents directly to a server

• TRACE - debugging• DELETE - remove documents

from a server• OPTIONS - ask a server what

methods and other options the server supports for the requested resource

• HEAD - requests the header of a response

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Get Versus Post

• GET request :

• provides a limited amount of information in the form of a query string which is normally up to 255 characters

• visible in a URL must only be used to execute queries in a Web application

• POST request :

• sends an unlimited amount of information

• does not appear as part of a URL

• able to upload data in a Web application

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HTTP Request

• A valid HTTP request may look like this:– GET /index.html HTTP/1.0

• GET is a method defined by HTTP to ask a server for a specific resource

• /index.html is the resource being requested from the server

• HTTP/1.0 is the version of HTTP being used

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Handling HTTP Requests

• A Web container processes HTTP requests by executing the service method on an HttpServlet object.

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Dispatching HTTP Requests

• In the HttpServlet class, the service method dispatches requests to corresponding methods based on the HTTP method such as Get or Post.

• A servlet should extend the HttpServlet class and overrides the doGet() and/or doPost() methods.

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HTTP Response

• After a request is handled, information should be send back to the client.

• In the HTTP protocol, an HTTP server takes a request from a client and generates a response consisting of– a) a response line– b) headers– c) a body

• The response line contains the HTTP version of the server, a response code and a reason phrase :– HTTP/1.1 200 OK

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HttpServlet Response

• The HttpServletResponse object is responsible for sending information back to a client.

• An output stream can be obtained by calls to:– 1)getWriter()

– 2)getOutputStream()

PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();out.println("<html>");out.println("<head>");out.println("<title>Hello World!</title>");

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Task: HTTP Servlet

• Create and deploy a HelloWorld HTTP servlet executing the Get method.– Declare the package – com.examples– Import the required clases:

• import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;

• import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;

• import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;

• import java.io.PrintWriter;

• import java.io.IOException;

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Task: HTTP Servlet

public class HelloServlet extends HttpServlet { public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws IOException { response.setContentType(“text/html”); PrintWriter out = response.getWriter(); //Generate the HTML response out.println(“<HTML>”); out.println(“<HEAD>”); out.println(“<TITLE>Hello Servlet</TITLE>”); out.println(“</HEAD>”); out.println(“<BODY BGCOLOR=’white’>”); out.println(“<B>Hello, World</B>”); out.println(“</BODY>”); out.println(“</HTML>”); out.close(); }}

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Deployment of an HTTP Servlet

• The HTTPServlet object has to be deployed in the Web server before being used by the server.

• A typical structure for deploying a servlet may look as follows:

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Deployment Descriptor

• In order to deploy a servlet, we also need to put a deployment descriptor file, web.xml, under the directory of the WEB-INF directory.

• Within the web.xml file, the definition of the servlet is contained:– Define a specific servlet

– Map to a URL pattern

<servlet> <servlet-name>name</servlet-name> <servlet-class>full_class_name</servletclass></servlet>

<servlet-mapping> <servlet-name>name</servlet-name> <url-pattern>pattern</url-pattern></servlet-mapping>

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URL Patterns

• There are four types of URL patterns:– Exact match:

• <url-pattern>/dir1/dir2/name</url-pattern>– Path match:

• <url-pattern>/dir1/dir2/*</url-pattern>– Extension match:

• <url-pattern>*.ext</url-pattern>– Default resource:

• <url-pattern>/</url-pattern>

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Mapping Rules 1

• When a request is received, the mapping used will be the first servlet mapping that matches the request's path according to the following rules:

– If the request path exactly matches the mapping, that mapping is used.

– If the request path starts with one or more prefix mappings (not counting the mapping's trailing "/*"), then the longest matching prefix mapping is used.

– For example, "/foo/*" will match "/foo", "/foo/", and "/foo/bar", but not "/foobar".

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Mapping Rules 2

– If the request path ends with a given extension mapping, it will be forwarded to the specified servlet.

– If none of the previous rules produce a match, the default mapping is used.

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Deploying HTTP Servlet

• Deploy an HTTP Servlet in Tomcat server.

– Create a directory for deployment. This directory, say "examples", should be put under <Tomcat_Home>/webapps.

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Deploying HTTP Servlet

• Refer to the directory structure in previous slide, copy the servlet package to the directory WEB-INF/classes.

• Create a web.xml file, if one does not exist, in the directory WEB-INF.

• Test the output of the servlet by entering the URL in the browser: http://localhost/examples/HelloWorld

<web-app xmlns=http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee version="2.4"> <servlet> <servlet-name>HelloWorld</servlet-name> <servlet-class>com.web.HelloServlet</servlet-class> </servlet> <servlet-mapping> <servlet-name>HelloWorld</servlet-name> <url-pattern>/HelloWorld</url-pattern> </servlet-mapping></web-app>

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Task: Deploying HTTP Servlet

• Change the URL address of the servlet to:– http://localhost/examples/myservelt/HelloWorld

• Change the URL address of the servlet to:– http://localhost/examples/Hello

• Deploy the servlet in a different context, say admin. The URL may look like this:– http://localhost/admin/HelloWorld

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Request Parameter

• Data transmitted from a browser to a servlet is considered the request parameter.

• A Web browser can transmit data to a Web server through HTML form.

• For example, if the submit button of the following form is pressed, the corresponding data is sent to the Web server:

Get /servlet/myForm?name=Bryan HTTP/1.0. . .

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POST Method

• By using a POST method, data may be contained in the body of the HTTP request:

POST /register HTTP/1.0. . .Accept-Charset: iso-8859-1,*,utf-8Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencodedContent-length: 129name=Bryan

• The HTTP POST method can only be activated from a form.

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Extracting Request Parameters

• Request parameters are stored as a set of name-value pairs.

• ServletRequest interface provides the following methods to access the parameters:– getParameter(String name)– getParameterValues(String name)– getParameterNames()– getParameterMap()

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Extract Parameter

• Parameter value is sent to a servlet through an HTML form. Create a HTTP servlet to retrieve the value of the parameter.

– Put the following HTML file in the examples folder of your web application, name it form.html and browse it.

<html><BODY BGCOLOR=‘white’><B>Submit this Form</B><FORM ACTION=‘/examples/myForm’ METHOD=‘POST’>Name: <INPUT TYPE=‘text’ NAME=‘name’><BR><BR><INPUT TYPE=’submit’></FORM></BODY></html>

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Extract Parameter

– Methods of the HttpServletRequest are available for extracting parameters from different HTML forms:

• String getParameter(name) – get a value from a text field• String getParameterValues(name) – get values from a multip

le selection such as a checkbox

– Create a servlet named myForm and deploy it under the examples context. The servlet will extract the parameter “name” and generate an HTML page showing the name in bold type.

• Make sure that your servlet implements the correct method to respond to the request.

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Defining Initial Parameters

• A servlet can have multiple initial parameters defined in the deployment descriptor (web.xml) as follows:

<servlet> <servlet-name>EnglishHello</servlet-name> <servlet-class>com.web.MultiHelloServlet</servlet-class> <init-param> <param-name>greetingText</param-name> <param-value>Welcome</param-value> </init-param> <init-param> <param-name>encoding</param-name> <param-value>UTF-8</param-value> </init-param></servlet>

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Getting Initial Parameter –InitSnoop.java

• There are different ways to obtain servlet initial parameters defined in web.xml. One is to override the init() method, which is defined in the GenericServlet class in your servlet.

• The getInitParameter method of the GenericServlet class provides access to the initialization parameters for the servlet instance.

• In the init() method, a greeting String may be defined as follows:

public void init(){. . .greeting = getInitParameter("greetingText");. . . }

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Multiple Servlet Definition

• Multiple “servlet definitions” can also be defined in a given servlet class. The following could be added to web.xml along with the previous slide.

<servlet> <servlet-name>ChineseHello</servlet-name> <servlet-class>com.web.MultiHelloServlet</servlet-class> <init-param> <param-name>greetingText</param-name> <param-value> 欢迎你 </param-value> </init-param> <init-param> <param-name>encoding</param-name> <param-value>UTF-8</param-value> </init-param></servlet>

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Request Header

• A servlet can access the headers of an HTTP request with the following methods:– getHeader– getHeaders– getHeaderNames

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Request Attributes

• Attributes are objects associated with a request. They can be access through the following methods:– getAttribute– getAttributeNames– setAttribute

• An attribute name can be associated with only one value.

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Reserved Attributes

• The following prefixes are reserved for attribute names and cannot be used:– java.– javax.– sun.– com.sun.

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Request Path 1

• The request path can be obtained from this method:– getRequestURI()

• The request path is composed of different sections.

• These sections can be obtained through the following methods of the request object :

– getContextPath()• If the context of the servlet is the "default" root of the Web s

erver, this call will return an empty string.• Otherwise, the string will starts with a ' / ' character but not e

nd with a ' / ' character

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Request Path 2

– getServletPath()

• The mapping which activates this request:

• If the mapping matches with the ' /* ' pattern, returns an empty string

• Otherwise, returns a string starts with a ' / ' character.

Context path: /examplesServlet mapping :Pattern: /lec1/ex1Servlet: exServlet

Request Path: /examples/lec1/ex1ContextPath: /examplesServletPath: /lec1/ex1PathInfo: null

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Request Path 3

– getPathInfo()• The extra part of the request URI that is not returned by the g

etContextPath or getServletPath method.

• If no extra parts, returns null

• otherwise, returns a string starts with a ' / ' character

Context path: /examplesServlet mapping :Pattern: /lec1/*Servlet: exServlet

Request Path: /examples/lec1/ex/ContextPath: /examplesServletPath: /lec1PathInfo: /ex/

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Request Path 4

• To sum up:– RequestURI = ContextPath + ServletPath + PathInfo

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Response Headers

• HttpServletResponse can manipulate the HTTP header of a response with following methods:– addHeader(String name, String value)– addIntHeader(String name, int value)– addDateHeader(String name, long date)– setHeader(String name, String value)– setIntHeader(String name, String value)– setDateHeader(String name, long date)

• For example:– You can make the client's browser cache the common graphic of

your web site as following:response.addHeader("Cache-Control","max-age=3600");

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Servlet Context

• A ServletContext object is the runtime representation of a Web application.

• A servlet has access to the servlet context object through the getServletContext method of the GenericServlet interface.

• The servlet context object provides:– read-only access to context initialization parameters– read-only access to application-level file resources– read-write access to application-level attributes– write access to the application-level log file

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Context Initial Parameters 1

• The application-wide servlet context parameters defined in the deployment descriptor (web.xml) can be retrieved through the context object.

<web-app> <context-param> <param-name>admin email</param-name> <param-value>admin@servlet.com</param-value> </context-param>. . .

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Context Initial Parameters 2

• In order to obtain a context object, the following can be used:

ServletContext context = getServletConfig().getServletContext();

• After having the context object, one can access the context initial parameter like this:

String adminEmail = context.getInitParameter("admin email");

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Access to File Resources

• The ServletContext object provides read-only access to file resources through the getResourceAsStream method that returns a raw InputStream object.

• After having the servlet context object, one can access the file resources as follows:

String fileName = context.getInitParameter(“fileName”);InputStream is = null;BufferedReader reader = null;try { is = context.getResourceAsStream(fileName); reader = new BufferedReader(new inputStreamReader(is)); . . .

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Access to Attributes 1

• The ServletContext object provides read-write access to runtime context attributes through the getAttribute and setAttribute methods.

• Setting attributes:

ProductList catalog = new ProductList();catalog.add(new Product(“p1”,10);catalog.add(new Product (“p2”,50);context.setAttribute(“catalog”, catalog);

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Access to Attributes 2

• Getting attributes:

catalog = (ProductList) context.getAttribute(“catalog”);Iterator items = catalog.getProducts();while ( items.hasNext() ) { Product p = (Product) items.next(); out.println(“<TR>”); out.println(“<TD>” + p.getProductCode() + “</TD>”); out.println(“ <TD>” + p.getPrice() + “</TD>”); out.println(“</TR>”);}

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Write Access to the Log File

• The ServletContext object provides write access to log file through the log method.

• The code may look as follows:– context.log (“This is a log record”);

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Servlet Communication

• When building a Web application, resource-sharing and communication between servlets are important.

• This can be achieved through one of the following:– servlet context– request dispatching– session tracking– event listening

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ServletContext

• Servlets can access other servlets within the same servlet context through an instance of :– javax.servlet.ServletContext

• The ServletContext object can be obtained from the ServletConfig object by calling the getServletContext method.

• A list of all other servlets in a given servlet context can be obtained by calling the getServletNames method on the ServletContext object.

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Accessing a Servlet

• The following code snippet shows how to access another servlet through the servlet context instance.

...

BookDBServlet database = (BookDBServlet)

getServletConfig().getServletContext().getServlet("bookdb");

//Obtain a Servlet and call its public method

// directly

BookDetails bd = database.getBookDetails(bookId);

...

}

}

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Request Dispatching 1

• A request may need several servlets to cooperate:

• RequestDispatcher object can be used for redirecting a request from one servlet to another.

• An object implementing the RequestDispather interface may be obtained from the ServletContext via the following methods:– getRequestDispatcher– getNamedDispatcher

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Request Dispatching 2

• The getRequestDispatcher method takes a string argument as the path for the located resources.

• pathname must begin with a "/" and is interpreted as relative to the current context root.

• The required servlet is obtained and returned as a RequestDispatcher object.

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Request Dispatching 3

• The getNamedDispatcher method takes a string argument indicating the name of a servlet known to the ServletContext.

• Servlets may be given names via server administration or via a web application deployment descriptor.

• A servlet instance can be determined through its name by calling ServletConfig.getServletName()

• If a servlet is known to the ServletContext by name, it is wrapped with a RequestDispatcher object and returned.

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Example: Request Dispatching

• Note:– The RequestDispatcher object’s include() method dispatches the

request to the “response” servlet path (/response – in the URL mapping).

. . .RequestDispatcher dispatcher =getServletContext().getRequestDispatcher("/response");if (dispatcher != null) { dispatcher.include(request, response);}

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Using a RequestDispatcher

• To use a request dispatcher, a developer needs to call either the include or forward methods of the RequestDispatcher interface as follows:

. . .dispatcher.include(request, response);. . .

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Include Method

• The include method of the RequestDispatcher interface may be called at any time.

• It works like a programmatic server-side include and includes the response from the given resource ( Servlet, JSP page or HTML page ) within the caller response.

• The included servlet cannot set headers or call any method that affects the headers of the response. Any attempt to do so should be ignored.

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Forward Method

• The forward method of the RequestDispatcher interface may only be called by the calling servlet if no output has been committed to the client.

• If output exists in the response buffer that has not been committed, it must be reset (clearing the buffer) before the target Servlet’s service method is called.

• If the response has been committed, an IllegalStateException must be thrown.

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Request Dispatcher Example 1

// Create a servlet which dispatches its request to another servlet

// using both the forward and include methods of the ServletContext.

//TestDispatherServlet1 as follows:

package com.web;

import java.io.*;

import javax.servlet.*;

import javax.servlet.http.*;

public class TestDispatcherServlet1 extends HttpServlet {

private static final String forwardTo = "/DispatcherServlet2";

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Request Dispatcher Example 2

private static final String includeIn = "/DispatcherServlet2"; public void doGet(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse res) throws ServletException, IOException { res.setContentType("text/html"); PrintWriter out = res.getWriter(); out.print("<html><head>"); out.print("</head><body>"); // Displaying Form out.print("<form action=\""); out.print( req.getRequestURI() ); out.print("\" method=\"post\">"); out.print("<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"mode\" "); out.print("value=\"forward\">"); out.print("<input type=\"submit\" value=\" \""); out.print("> "); out.print(" Forward to another Servlet .."); out.print("</form>");

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Request Dispatcher Example 3

out.print("<form action=\""); out.print( req.getRequestURI() ); out.print("\" method=\"post\">"); out.print("<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"mode\" "); out.print("value=\"include\">"); out.print("<input type=\"submit\" "); out.print("value=\" \"> "); out.print(" Include another Servlet .."); out.print("</form>"); out.print("</body></html>"); out.close();}

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Request Dispatcher Example 4

public void doPost(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse res) throws ServletException, IOException { res.setContentType("text/html"); String mode = req.getParameter("mode"); PrintWriter out = res.getWriter(); out.print( "Begin...<br>"); // Forwarding to Servlet2 if(mode != null && mode.equals("forward")) { req.setAttribute("mode", "Forwarding Response.."); req.getRequestDispatcher(forwardTo).forward(req, res); } // Including response from Servlet2 if(mode != null && mode.equals("include")) { req.setAttribute("mode", "Including Response.."); req.getRequestDispatcher(includeIn).include(req, res); } }}

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Request Dispatcher Example 5

• Map the servlet at "/DispatcherServlet1" in the web.xml file

• Create another servlet as the target servlet.

• Make sure the servlet is mapped correctly in the web.xml file.

<servlet> <servlet-name>DispatcherServlet2</servlet-name> <servlet-class>com.web.TestDispatcherServlet2</servlet-class></servlet><servlet-mapping> <servlet-name>DispatcherServlet2</servlet-name> <url-pattern>/DispatcherServlet2</url-pattern></servlet-mapping>

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Request Dispatcher

• What is the difference between include and forward methods?

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Session Tacking

• HTTP is a stateless protocol and associating requests with a particular client is difficult.

• Session tracking mechanism is used to maintain state about a series of requests from the same user.

• javax.servlet.http.HttpSession defined in Servlet specification allows a servlet containers to use different approaches to track a user's session easily.

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HttpSession

• HttpSession is defined in the Servlet specification for managing the state of a client.

• Each HttpSession instance is associated with an ID and can store the client's data.

• The stored data will be kept privately until the client's session is destroyed.

• SessionTracker.java

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Obtaining a Session

• Servlets do not create sessions by default.• getSession method of the HttpServletRequest object has t

o be called explicitly to obtain a user’s session.

public class CatalogServlet extends HttpServlet { public void doGet (HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException { // Get the user's session HttpSession session = request.getSession(); ... }}

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HttpSession Attributes

• Objects, or data, can be bound to a session as attributes.

• The following methods can be used to manipulate the attributes:– void setAttribute(String name, Object value)

• binds an object to this session, using the name specified– Object getAttribute(String name)

• returns the object bound with the specified name in this session, or null if no object is bound under the name

– Enumeration getAttributeNames()• returns an Enumeration of String objects containing the name

s of all objects bound to this session– void removeAttribute(String name)

• removes the object with the specified name from this session

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Invalidating the Session

• A user's session can be invalidated manually or automatically when the session timeouts.

• To manually invalidate a session, the session's invalidate () method can be used:

. . .HttpSession session = request.getSession();. . .// After the process, invalidate the session and clear// the datasession.invalidate();. . .

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Cookies

• Cookies are used to provide session ID and can be used to store information shared by the client and server.

• When a session is created, an HTTP header, Set-Cookie, will be sent to the client. This cookie stores the session ID in the client until time-out.

• The ID may looks like:

Set-Cookie:JSESSIONID=50BAB1DB58D45F833D78D9EC1C5A10C5

• This ID will be stored in a client and passed back to the server for each subsequent request.

Cookie: JSESSIONID=50BAB1DB58D45F833D78D9EC1C5A10C5

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Cookie Object

• Other than providing session ID, cookie can be used to store information shared by both the client and server.

• javax.servlet.http.Cookie class provides methods for manipulating the information such as:– setValue(String value)– getValue()– setComment(String comment)– getComment()– setMaxAge(int second)– getMaxAge()– . . .

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Using Cookies

• A procedure for using cookies to store information in a client usually includes:– instantiating a cookie object– setting any attributes– sending the cookie

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Instantiating a Cookie Object

public void doGet (HttpServletRequest request,

HttpServletResponse response)

throws ServletException, IOException {

String bookId = request.getParameter("Buy");

if (bookId != null) {

Cookie Book = new Cookie("book_purchased",bookId);

...

}

}

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Setting Attributes

. . .Cookie Book = new Cookie("book_purchased",bookId); Book.setComment ("Book sold" );. . .}

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Sending a Cookie

. . .

Cookie Book = new Cookie("book_purchased",bookId);

Book.setComment ("Book sold" );

response.addCookie(Book);

. . .

}

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Retrieving Information

• A procedure to retrieve information from a cookie:– retrieve all cookies from the user's request– find the cookie or cookies with specific names– get the values of the cookies found

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Retrieving a Cookie 1

public void doGet (HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException { ... String bookId = request.getParameter("Remove"); ... if (bookId != null) { // Find the cookie that pertains to that book Cookie[] cookies = request.getCookies();

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Retrieving a Cookie 2

for(i=0; i < cookies.length; i++) { Cookie thisCookie = cookie[i]; if (thisCookie.getName().equals("book_purchased") && thisCookie.getValue().equals(bookId)) {

// Delete the cookie by setting its // maximum age to zero thisCookie.setMaxAge(0); response.addCookie(thisCookie); }

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Your Task

• Create a servlet that stores the last time the client visits this servlet within the session.

• java.util.Date could be used to obtain the time-stamp.• The time-stamp should be stored as a cookie.• A message similar to the following should be shown:

– Your last visit time is Fri Apr 01 14:37:48 CST2007

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URL Rewriting

• If a client does not support cookies, URL rewriting could be used as a mechanism for session tracking.

• While using this method, session ID is added to the URL of each page generated.

• For example, after a session ID 123456 is generated, the rewritten URL might look like:– http://localhost/ServletTest/index.html;jsessionid=123456

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Methods for URL Rewriting

• The HttpServletResponse object provides methods for appending a session ID to a URL address string:

– String encodeURL(java.lang.String url)

• Encodes the specified URL by including the session ID in it, or, if encoding is not needed, returns the URL unchanged.

– String encodeRedirectURL(String url)

• Encodes the specified URL for use in the sendRedirect method or, if encoding is not needed, returns the URL unchanged.

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Investigate the usage of URL rewriting (homework)

• Create a servlet, named "URLRewrite", which shows the following information on a web page:– request URL (request.getURL())

– request URI (request.getURI())

– servlet path (request.getServletPath() )

– path info (request.getPathInfo() )

– session id ( request.getSession().getId()

– a hyperlink pointing to another servlet named "DisplayURL"

• Create a servlet DisplayURL which shows the session id.

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Investigate the usage of URL rewriting (homework)

• Make sure that the browser accepts cookies.• Browse the URLRewrite servlet and click on the link to th

e DisplayURL servlet. What is the session id displayed on both page?

• Configure the browser to disable the cookies.• Repeat step d and observe the result.• Modify the URLRewrite servlet and call the response.enc

odeURL method to modify the hyperlink pointing to theDisplayURL servlet.

• What is the result now and what is the conclusion?

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Servlet Event Listener

• Information about container-managed life cycle events, such as initialization of a web application or loading of a database could be useful.

• Servlet event listener provides a mechanism to obtain these information.

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Event Listener Interfaces

• Interfaces of different event listeners:

• javax.servlet.ServletRequestListener

• javax.servlet.ServletRequestAttributeListener

• javax.servlet.ServletContextListener

• javax.servlet.ServletContextAttributeListener

• javax.servlet.http.HttpSessionListener

• javax.servlet.http.HttpSessionAttributeListener

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Example of a Listener

• A listener can be used in different situations and here is one of the examples:

– When a web application starts up, the listener class is notified by the container and prepares the connection to the database.

– When the application is closed and removed from the web server, the listener class is notified and the database connection is closed.

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Servlet Event Listener (Homework)

• Create HttpSessionListener which counts the number of users connected to the server concurrently.– Create a class named UserCounter which implements the HttpSe

ssionListener.

– Define a static integer variable "counter" for counting the users.

– Find out which methods are needed to implement the HttpSessionListener interface.

– Within which method should you add or deduct the number of users?

– Provide a static method getUserCounted to return the number of users connecting currently.

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Servlet Event Listener (Homework)

• Deploy the listener developed– Modify the web.xml file as follows to deploy the listener:

<listener><listener-class>FULL_CLASS_NAME_OF_THE_LISTENER</listener-class></listener>

• Create a servlet DisplayUser which displays the number of connected user by calling the getUserCount method of the UserCounter class.

• What can be observed when establishing more connections to the DisplayUser servlet?

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Servlet Summary 1

• The most commonly used servlet extends the HttpServlet class.

• The life cycle of a servlet include initialization, service and destruction.

• The web container dispatches the requests to the corresponding methods according to their types such as Get or Post.

• The URL of a servlet could be mapped as part of the web.xml file.

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Servlet Summary 2

• Data transmitted from a browser to a servlet is considered a request parameter.

• ServletRequest interface provides methods such as getParameter() for accessing the request parameters.

• Initial parameters for a servlet could be assigned in the web.xml file and extracted within the init() method of a servlet using the getInitParameter method.

• HttpServletRequest interface also provides methods for accessing different attributes of an HTTP request such as header, URI, etc.

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Servlet Summary 3

• ServletContext object is the runtime representation of a web application.

• The servlet context object provides:– a) read-only access to context initialization parameters– b) read-only access to application-level file resources– c) read-write access to application-level attributes– d) write access to the application-level log file

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Servlet Summary 4

• Information and resources can be shared between servlets and the container.

• Different approaches could be used:– servlet context– request dispatching– session tracking– event listening